Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The moon is high.

"The moon is high.

The sea is deep.

They rock and rock and rock to sleep."

~ Sandra Boynton

Watching them sleep remains one of my favorite pastimes. First I hover and just watch. Then I lean in and inhale, taking in the scent of their skin, their hair and that little boy smell that lingers if it was too late for a bath. Reflexively, I plant kisses all over them. Forehead, cheeks, forearms, hands, fingertips. They shift a bit and eyes flutter. Then settle back down.

Shhhhhh.

I whisper, "Do you know how much you are loved? So loved. So cherished. I love you, I love you, I love you."

Bodies squirm but then go back into a content slumber.

At some point in the night, I sneak in and do it again. And just maybe again.

My goal is to let them sleep while it is time to sleep. And to protect them from things that go bump in the night or things that make people scream during the day.

6 comments:

First I wanted to say, I'm sorry for your loss, and that your strength and faith has encouraged me- thank you. 2nd people talk so much about Grady-- but when my mom was sick and needed to have surgery Grady was the only place she wanted to go. The doctors/nurse/orderlies there were amazing. Every time I read of one of your Grady elders’ stories- I smile, because someone out there cares and realize they're people. I never told the staff there how amazing they were. From a former Grady elder daughter, thank you for caring. Spring

I read that book so many times when my kids were little! I recognized the line immediately. Love watching mine sleep as well....their little faces are precious. I sneak in and kiss them goodnight before I go to bed each night.

Welcome to Atlanta.

"Becoming is better than being." - Carol Dweck

Who me? I'm just glad to be here.

Honestly? I write this blog to share the human aspects of medicine + teaching + work/life balance with others and myself -- and to honor the public hospital and her patients--but never at the expense of patient privacy or dignity.
Thanks for stopping by! :)

What's the point?

"One writes out of one thing only--one's own experience. Everything depends of how relentlessly one forces from this experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give."

~ James Baldwin (1924 - 1987)

"Do it for the story." ~ Antoinette Nguyen, MD, MPH

Details, names, time frames, etc. are always changed to protect anonymity. This may or may not be an amalgamation of true,quasi-true, or completely fictional events. But the lessons? They are always real and never, ever fictional. Got that?